one hundred words
by osmalic
Summary: A collection of drabbles originally posted in ljcomm: fuda 100. Each chapter are complete with 100 words, and also stand alone unless otherwise indicated. Mostly manga-based.
1. Future in the Hands of

**challenge:** time-travelling  
**characters/pairings:** Watari, Tsuzuki (gen)

**Future in the Hands of**

There are a thousand possible future scenarios inputted in Mother's database and Tsuzuki finds each one fascinating. He wonders which one of them would become reality.

He announces, "I think I like the one where the Prime-Minister Moritama reestablished economic relations with Asia's. What about you?"

To his surprise, he finds Watari disappointed. "I thought," he complains, "that by then humans have already colonized other planets."

Then his eyes catch a seemingly boring scenario of a conference; the banner behind it states:

**"SEX-CHANGING FORMULA FINALLY DISCOVERED!"**

He grabs Tsuzuki's jacket and points to it excitedly. "_Oh!_ I like _that_ one!"


	2. Things that Change

**challenge:** Aging  
**characters/pairings:** Souryuu/Kurikara (PG)

**Things that Change**

"You haven't aged," Souryuu says when they meet. He kneels before Kurikara, long fingers touching the eternally closed eye.

Kurikara knows his body hasn't changed, but his mind has. He quickly withdraws as if burned: he will not be treated as one of Souryuu's children. "It's been a long time though."

Souryuu does not smile. "Too long." And leaves.

They are not children anymore; they are too scarred from the past two wars. Souryuu had given his trust to the Emperor, which was eventually broken. Kurikara cannot sympathise; time has not only broken his trust, it has broken his heart.


	3. Serpents are the Source

**challenge:** reincarnation  
**characters/pairings:** Ren, Yatonogami, The Village People (G)

**Serpents are the Source of All Things Betrayed**

Looking up, he finds the villagers cautiously returning, speaking in hushed tones, fearful. He straightens, barely controlling his shuddering, to tell them he has succeeded in protecting them. He has killed a god for them--a minor god, yet still a _god._

He has finally killed Yatonogami.

But their voices are louder, and when his hearing clears the chants are audible: _"--in this traitor's blood seal him, in his blood the god lives again, in this--"_

And the liquid **hisses**, writhes around his throat, stomach, arms, legs, face...

His screaming does not silence the laughter in his mind.


	4. 723

**challenge:** Masquerade  
**characters/pairings:** Nonomiya, Kazuma (off-screen usual Tsuzuki, _et al._)

**723**

From 7:00pm to 3:00am Nonomiya drinks with Tsuzuki, argues with Terazuma, dances with Wakaba, discusses world-domination with Watari, and plots with Tatsumi in trying to find the Earl of Candles' mask amidst shrieking.

When they leave, Terazuma returns to Wakaba's side, Tatsumi offers to bring his other officemates home, and Kazuma threads their fingers together. "It was a nice masquerade, you think?" she asks quietly. She is strangely subdued.

But Nonomiya knows what she is thinking. She closes her eyes, remembers the smiles on all their faces, and remembers how she dies.

"Everyone wore such believable masks," she agrees honestly.


	5. The other department has no yaoi but

**challenge:** non-yaoi  
**characters/pairings:** Tsuzuki, Hisoka (off-screen Nonomiya, Kazuma)

**The other department has no yaoi but...**

Tsuzuki almost fell off his chair. "Nonomiya and Kazuma...are...?" he gasped, gesturing with his hands.

"Yes, and I'm surprised you didn't know," Hisoka replied, frowning, "considering you've known them longer."

"It's not exactly talked about," Tsuzuki snapped, grimacing. "Homosexuality is—" He trailed off, remembering Muraki.

"Well, I'm sorry I told you," Hisoka huffed. "I thought you knew about it otherwise I wouldn't even have mentioned it."

There was silence until Tsuzuki said sympathetically, "It's your empathy, isn't it? Making you know things?"

Hisoka blinked. "Er." He paused. "Tsuzuki. They asked me to join them."

Tsuzuki fell off his chair.

* * *

Because it's interesting to remember Tsuzuki's horrified reaction when told about the all-boys' school love-affair, but Hisoka only looked mildly surprised.


	6. The end justifies the means

**challenge:** previous challenges (I chose: paperwork)  
**characters/pairings:** Tatsumi (off-screen mention of Nagare, etc.)

**The end justifies the means.**

After the Kamakura case, Tatsumi gratefully returns to the office to file the paperwork, reading the guidelines to recall procedure.

_**Third corporeal party? Please elaborate.**_

He writes:

_Yatonogami: serpent water shikigami_  
_- malignant, classified level 9_  
_- mutated due to wormhole complications_  
_- eviscerated_

_**Casualties? Please elaborate.**_

He lists:

_- XXXX Miya. Awaiting trial._  
_- Kurosaki Iwao. Awaiting Trial._  
_- Kurosaki Rui. Awaiting trial._

—and pauses before writing:

_- Kurosaki Nagare. Escorted._

_**Shinigami damage? Please elaborate.**_

He starts, stops, writes:

_None._

He almost writes _'Tatsumi Seiichirou: lost ability for apathy'_ but knows it is churlishness. Besides, he does not regret.

* * *

prequel is in another drabble


	7. Bleach no Matsuei

**challenge:** fusion  
**characters/pairings:** guess which manga~!

**Bleach no Matsuei**

The closet door slammed open. "There's a Hollow coming!" Tsuzuki shouted, poking his head out.

"GYAH!" Hisoka jumped violently. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY CLOSET?!"

Tsuzuki shrugged. "You sucked all my abilities so I should be nearby—"

"GET IN!" Hisoka kicked him back inside.

"Brother?" Wakaba entered just as Hisoka whirled around. "I heard voices—"

"Radio." Hisoka's heart pounded wildly.

Something beeped inside the closet. Wakaba frowned. "Was that—"

_"RADIO!"_

When Wakaba left, Hisoka peeked in at Tsuzuki who was grinning sheepishly. "Let's go?"

Hisoka sighed. There had to be an easier way to be a Shinigami.

* * *

Because they are both Kurosakis who have unnatural hair color, abnormal sixth senses, crazy families, and Shinigami day jobs.


	8. CurseTime

**challenge:** passage of time  
**characters/pairings:** many

**Curse/Time**

_Time:_ Kurikara-Ryuu-Ou squares his shoulders and enters his cave without looking back.

_Time:_ Kurosaki Ren dares not weep as the villagers he protected cheer for his imprisonment.

_Time:_ Tsuzuki Asato longingly watches a butterfly flit outside his window.

_Time:_ Muraki Kazutaka meets a boy's smile while his father introduces him as his brother.

_Time:_ In his dark room, Kurosaki Hisoka's marks flare briefly and he breathes his last.

_Thousands of years and curses._ Enma Daioh's fingers trace the lines of bureaucracy recorded on paper, knowing these words bring destiny. _But in time,_ he thinks smugly, _all curses can be broken._


	9. Two Rituals and another

**challenge:** rituals  
**characters/pairings:** Kurosaki Clan  
**note:** potential spoilers for the Kamakura Arc

**Two Rituals (and another)**

New help? I see, replacing your ill mother...

Yes, that's the master. He always leaves at this hour and returns shortly (so you'd best have tea ready).

It is not our business to question.

But yes, he brings flowers.

...His son. Weren't you told? He passed away.

It is not our place to speculate the master's emotions.

Although...the master visits the grave every morning.

Weather makes no difference.

No, you may not accompany him. You've never heard? Villagers say...

...that under the nearby sakura tree, right next to the master's chrysanthemums, a solitary boy weeps whenever the moon is red...


	10. War of the Lonely

**challenge:** siblings  
**characters/pairings:** Kijin, Tenkou  
**note:** liberal interpretation of the final chapter in _Hana to Yume_

**War of the Lonely**

When Kouchin and her songs are absent, Tenkou would listen to her brother's stories: tales of days before their birth, of friendships that surpass love, of the wisest shikigami – the Celestial Emperor, of a devastating war, and of betrayals that festered more than any wound.

"If the Emperor was wise," Tenkou wonders, "why did war occur?"

"The Emperor was wise but lonely," Kijin says, "and was no one's friend. None would weep for him."

"I'd weep for you," Tenkou would declare.

But Kijin's eyes are strangely distant. Sitting in the garden beside her brother, Tenkou would feel she is alone.


	11. Nopperabou

**challenge:** siblings  
**characters/pairings:** Nagare, Hisoka, Hisoka  
**note:** A nopperabou is a Japanese mythological figure of a ghost, usually of a woman, without a face.

**Nopperabou**

The screaming boy strangely calms as soon as Nagare scoops him into his arms and carries him away from the lake, but as they cross the clearing the boy whispers, "There was a _nopperabou_."

Nagare almost stumbles, heart quickening. He dares not look at the boy.

"It spoke." The child's voice is hushed. "She wants my name."

When Nagare gives no answer, the boy presses: "Am I the _nopperabou_?"

"Stop this nonsense," Nagare orders harshly as he carefully lowers his son on the futon. He has no assurance for this child, just as he had none for his dead daughter.


	12. The price of freedom

**challenge:** the first and the last  
**characters/pairings:** Tatsumi/Nagare (PG)  
**timeline:** Kamakura arc

**The price of freedom**

When the servant moves to staunch the wounds, the master quickly impedes. "I'll not let you die!" the servant shouts.

"No," his master agrees, "you'll let me finally live."

"Freedom requires costly bargains." The servant's eyes are troubled. "I've silently allowed deaths for so long, yet..."

"Then I would ask of you," the master says quietly, "to stay till the end."

Visibly, the servant hesitates before nodding. "I shall."

The sun is rising when Watari-sensei risks touching his friend's shoulder. Tatsumi tenses, yet tentatively lets his arms around the motionless Kurosaki Nagare loosen. His eyes close.

He will not weep.

* * *

Can be continued at the drabble _"The end justifies the means"._


	13. Waltz

**challenge:** madness  
**characters/pairings:** Tsuzuki/Hisae

**Waltz**

"Love isn't always enough in a relationship," Tsuzuki declared cheerfully, wrist flicking to catch her twirl.

"Waltz _isn't_ a relationship," Hisae retorted, matching the sweep of his legs.

"But it is!" Tsuzuki forced another twirl before pulling her into his arms. "You don't have to love me to do as I say."

"Idiot." Yet she could feel herself responding to every command whenever Tsuzuki's thighs pressed against hers, signifying change in direction. His palm at her back pulled her closer. "I don't trust you."

She shrieked at the sudden dip. Tsuzuki grinned. "No," he agreed, "but you let me lead."

* * *

Yay! I made a Hisae drabble!


	14. Slow, Sure Descent

**challenge:** madness  
**characters/pairings:** Rui, Hisoka

**Slow, Sure Descent**

"I don't like Kanae-_obaasan_," the boy declared. "She says I'm mad."

"You must have said something," said his mother.

The boy shook his head stubbornly. "No! I _did_ talk to a snake."

"That's impossible."

"You were there!" the boy insisted. "I sat beside you!"

His mother's eyes flashed. "I was never outside!"

"But you were swimming." The boy was confused. "You said you'd show me the bottom of the lake."

The woman merely stared at him until the boy stood and shouted, "It _was_ you! I wasn't lying! _You were there!"_

Hisoka was locked in the cellar the next day.


	15. Two in One

**challenge:** plague  
**characters/pairings:** Tsuzuki  
**timeline:** year 1947

**Two in One**

Tsuzuki found the boy sitting next to his frail sister in their hospital room. "Hey," he greeted, "there's no need to be sad."

"She's going to die too, isn't she?" the boy asked.

"Yes. You'll be together again."

"My father died too. They said it was the bomb. Even though it was a long time ago, it still made us sick." The boy looked up at him. "She'll be scared when she wakes. Can we wait for her?"

Tsuzuki reached for his hand. "Well," he said, smiling, "it'll save me a trip."

The boy shuffled closer. They didn't wait long.


	16. It's a kiss?

**challenge:** kiss  
**characters/pairings:** Watari/Tsuzuki (?)  
**rating: **PG

**It's a...kiss?**

Wakaba screamed when she entered the lab and saw them: Watari and Tsuzuki, their lips locked and their arms around each other.

It went downhill from there when Terazuma — thinking Wakaba was in trouble — barged in and promptly fainted.

Saaya and Yuma stumbled over his prone body, squealing, and proceeded to take pictures.

Tatsumi, apparently hearing the commotion, entered to demand, "What's all this?" before seeing the two, upon which he straightened his glasses, blushed, and stammered, "Er. Well."

But Hisoka came along right behind him, saying, "Tsuzuki, did you steal the glue on my desk again — oh. Never mind."

* * *

Posted during Valentine week.


	17. This Gilded Cage

**challenge:** weapons  
**characters/pairings:** Souryuu, Tsuzuki  
**timeline: **give or take 1930's

**Worth**

"What is the use of claims," Souryuu roared, "if you refuse to use us?"

His master—if he _is_ worthy of such title—only winced. "I didn't think it was appropriate—"

"Not appropriate?!"

"You're too powerful," the shinigami explained hastily.

"There are others who would have matched the demon's power," Souryuu pointed out in frustration. "Byakko or Taimou—"

"I don't want you hurt because of me!"

"Every fight requires weapons. _Shikigamis_ are weapons. Why claim us if you will never use us? We swore to protect you."

Tsuzuki looked away. "I was lonely," he said, as if apologizing.


	18. Worth

**challenge:** weapons  
**characters/pairings:** Souryuu, Tsuzuki  
**timeline: **give or take 1930's

**Worth**

"What is the use of claims," Souryuu roared, "if you refuse to use us?"

His master—if he _is_ worthy of such title—only winced. "I didn't think it was appropriate—"

"Not appropriate?!"

"You're too powerful," the shinigami explained hastily.

"There are others who would have matched the demon's power," Souryuu pointed out in frustration. "Byakko or Taimou—"

"I don't want you hurt because of me!"

"Every fight requires weapons. _Shikigamis_ are weapons. Why claim us if you will never use us? We swore to protect you."

Tsuzuki looked away. "I was lonely," he said, as if apologizing.


	19. Since anthropology is also a science

**challenge:** women  
**characters/pairings:** women, but mainly Watari  
**word count:** I am proud to say 100 words. *dies*

**Since anthropology is also a science...**

Watari took notes.

He followed Kira around and she ended up saving him a couple of times before she begged him to let her concentrate.

Yuuma and Saaya promised information if he wore the frilly blue dress. Fashion filled 20 pages of notes.

He had tea with Nonomiya, Kazuma and Wakaba, alternating between polite to heated conversations on bureaucracy.

Finally, he concluded:

_Ethnographic study reveals that human females exhibit various characteristics ranging from delicate to insane. The lucky male who possesses all these features (therefore the best candidate to try my gender-changing potion) is..._

Watari glanced at Tatsumi and cackled.


	20. Death by Drowning

**challenge:** raindrops  
**characters/pairings:** Kurosaki people  
**rating: **R  
**timeline:** Kamakura and Gensoukai arcs

**Death by Drowning**

Yatonogami dies as water pours from the sky.

Futsunomiya's hilt is wet and slippery, but it is with steady hands that Hisoka plunges the blade into his father's ravaged body and _twists_ just so.

It is with his father's voice that the Yatonogami screams, and it is with his father's body that it convulses. Hisoka has to blink rapidly to keep the raindrops from obscuring his view.

_"Are you hesitating __**now**__?"_ Kurikara's serpent form hisses.

But it is _his father_ who smiles as Hisoka withdraws the sword to strike again.

"I'm not," Hisoka replies calmly, still blinking. "It's the rain."


	21. Watch and Learn

**challenge:** poise  
**characters/pairings:** Tsuzuki/Hisae, Hisoka  
**rating/warning:** G, het  
**timeline:** The Last Waltz

**Watch and Learn**

"There's some progress," Tsuzuki tells Hisoka when Hisae goes back to the house in a huff. "She complains a lot, but she's improved."

"I suppose you'll tell her tomorrow," Hisoka replies dryly.

"Oh, she'll know. It's in the way she holds herself." Tsuzuki demonstrates with his gestures. "She carries herself more confidently, and she walks like she's dancing. The waltz is in her system now. It won't let her go."

"Just like her sickness," Hisoka says bluntly, then sighs. "Tsuzuki, you know this'll only break both your hearts."

Tsuzuki does not meet his eyes and pretends he does not hear.


	22. Want to Trade?

**challenge:** pets  
**characters/pairings:** Tsuzuki, Hisoka, shikigamis

**Want to Trade?**

"It's not that I don't like him." Hisoka looks pointedly at the animated cactus singing karaoke with Genbu. "I just expected something _more."_

"I think he's cute," Tsuzuki says.

Hisoka cringes, then looks closely at Tsuzuki. "You're SERIOUS," he exclaims in disbelief.

Tsuzuki shrugs, then grins. "You brought him home. Can we keep him?"

"You're not taking this seriously." Hisoka scowls.

"Oh, I am. You're lucky all he has to eat is water." Tsuzuki glances at Byakko, who is inhaling all the food within his reach. "And you don't have to clean up after him, either."

Hisoka finds himself agreeing.


	23. But Anything Else Would Have Been

**challenge:** damage  
**characters/pairings:** Nagare, Hisoka, Tsuzuki  
**word count:** 100! _100 at the first try!_ *collapses*  
**timeline:** post!Kamakura, post!Gensoukai (supposedly)

**But Anything Else Would Have Been Superficial**

When they meet, three years later, Hisoka finds himself asking, _Why?_

His father does not pretend to misunderstand. He says, _I wanted to destroy you before I had the chance to love you._

Hisoka says, _I wasn't destroyed, you only damaged me._

His father replies wryly, _I find myself loving even things that are damaged. Like your mother. Like your sister. Like you._

Hisoka asks, _Was it worth it?_

His father does not hesitate. He says, _Yes. And I'll do it again if I have to._

Tsuzuki watches them curiously. And cannot understand why Hisoka seems content at the answer.


	24. Worse than Death

**note:** for the Fuda_100 exchange, as requested by Valeda_K with the prompt _"Nagare, retribution"_. Amazingly, she chose the character I always love to write, but whose head I hate getting into.

**characters:** Nagare, Tsuzuki, Hisoka  
**timeline:** post!Kamakura, post!Gensoukai (supposedly)

**Worse than Death**

"This is hell," Nagare observes flatly.

Tsuzuki-san only grins. "You expected eternal burning?" Nagare's silence answers for him. Tsuzuki-san's smile becomes strained. "Look, they say we're here because we still have ties, but the harshest punishments always come from ourselves." There is pity in his eyes, making Nagare almost hate him.

But Tsuzuki-san continues, "Well, here's Hisoka. He'll get you briefed for your first case," before letting his partner take over.

Father and son stand awkwardly in the corridor until Hisoka, betraying no emotions, turns away. "Tatsumi-san's waiting," he says.

Eternal burning is easier, Nagare realizes. This punishment is apt.


End file.
